47 people die as Maoists blow up bus

This is the second major strike by Naxalites in Dantewada in less than a month-and-a-half.

ET Bureau|

May 18, 2010, 03.00 AM IST

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NEW DELHI: In a shocking reminder to the governments, both at the Centre and in Chhattisgarh, about the uphill task they face in their efforts to restore order in the Naxalite-infested areas in the state, at least 47 people, including 32 civilians and 15 special police officers (SPOs) and local policemen, were killed and several others injured when the private bus in which they were travelling blew up under the impact of a landmine midway between Dantewada and Sukma late Monday afternoon.

According to preliminary reports gathered by intelligence and police officials, the improvised explosive devices had been planted by Maoists beneath the metalled road, probably with the collusion of local contractors, and were triggered as part of a well-planned and co-ordinated strategy.

“Large portions of the tract on which the explosion took place had recently been black-topped,” said an intelligence official, indicating that Maoists may have coerced or bribed local engineers and contractors into laying the landmines beneath the tar.

The SPOs and most of the civilians, intelligence officials maintain, were on their way to Sukma to participate in a special drive organised by the state government for recruitment as policemen. Maoists got wind of their movement and carried out the blast to deadly effect at around 4.45 pm.

This is the second major strike by Naxalites in Dantewada in less than a month-and-a-half. They had, on April 6, killed 76 CRPF personnel in the Mukrana forests of Dantewada district, inviting popular outrage and all-round condemnation.

Owning moral responsibility for the ghastly incident, home minister P Chidambaram had offered to resign from his post, but his request was turned down by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The fact that civilians have been targeted this time round is certain to add to the efforts of the Union home ministry and the governments of Naxalite-ravaged states to tighten the screws on Maoists.

Mr Chidambaram, while speaking to a news channel on Monday night, said he was “pained” by the attack and added that he had written to the prime minister seeking “a bigger mandate” to deal with the menace. “Naxals don’t discriminate, only kill,” Mr Chidambaram said, but lamented that he was hamstrung by his “limited” mandate.

Speaking to the news channel, Mr Chidambaram said there was a need to revisit operations against Naxals and that the civil society must now answer for Monday’s incident. “Chhattisgarh and Orissa are flashpoints now. All chief ministers back me on using air support,” he said.

Monday’s attack is the first such on a civilian passenger bus. Security personnel in civilian clothes travelling on the bus are believed to have been the main target of the attack. SPOs are mostly local people recruited to fight Maoists and have emerged as the biggest threat to them.

“The Union home ministry strongly condemns the killing of innocent civilians who were travelling in a civilian bus. Of late, there has been a surge in the killing of unarmed civilians. The pattern has become a hallmark of Maoists in the past few years,” Union home secretary GK Pillai told newspersons on Monday evening after taking stock of the situation with his colleagues.

“Nobody gives the Maoists the licence to kill, and the killing of innocent civilians under the guise of police informers does not make any of them less a murderer,” the home secretary added. He refused to divulge the exact number of casualties, maintaining that figures were yet to be ascertained, but said that seven of the injured had been hospitalised. “Their condition is said to be serious,” Mr Pillai said.